The minutes of the March 6, 2002 meeting were
approved unanimously with minor corrections.In “Approval of Minutes”, the date of the previous meeting minutes
should be February 6, 2002.

Also, Sen. Porter stated that her Roundup Report
on March 6 should have indicated that it was a decision of the College of
Science faculty to participate in the competitive hiring process, rather than
having it forced upon them, as indicated in her previous report.

Remarks by the Chair:

The Chair forwarded the Receivership document to
President Witt on April 15 for review. Senate recommendations on apportionment
have been forwarded to Provost Wright, and reapportionment should be
accomplished by fall, 2002.

Sen. Chrzanowski and Sen. Reinhartz attended the
recent UT System Faculty Advisory Council meeting and reported that a change to
Regents’ Rules has been made to allow the titles of Assistant, Associate, and
Full Professor to be granted to non-tenured and part-time faculty when
appropriate, such as when hiring a Nobel laureate. Also, the title of Clinical
Professor can now be awarded in institutions other than the health science
institutions.These are non-tenured
positions with three-year terms.The
issue of accountability is being studied at the Regents level.The Texas A&M campus reported that
annual letters of appointment are now defined as a notification of salary,
rather than a contract.It is strongly
felt that salary and tenure must be linked issues.A $10,000 discretionary fund has been established for the Faculty
Senate.

Universities throughout the system are
attempting to adapt to the changes in admissions criteria mandated by HB1641,
which defines admissions criteria for graduate students, and seeks to apply
socio-economic status as a criteria.UT
Brownsville is undergoing major expansion.They have just purchased a shopping mall to be converted to classroom
space, and are also bidding on a hotel for similar conversion.UT Permian Basin is bringing NCAA soccer to
their campus.They are experiencing
major growth in their academic programs and enrollment, with no increase in
faculty.UT Tyler HSC has approved
periodic review of Academic Administrators, and is revising their grievance
policy once again.Their president and
two vice presidents have resigned unexpectedly.The Legislature plans to review the post tenure review
process.Recurring themes and concerns
echoed by all campuses included: salary compression and salary issues in
general, increased emphasis on compliance and its detrimental effect on faculty
effectiveness.

Sen. Reinhartz concurred with Sen. Chrzanowski’s
summary, and added that the UT Tyler HSC faculty are quite concerned regarding
a lack of advance notice regarding contract renewal, which now is received just
before the fall semester begins.He
also believes it is important to bring the medical schools into line regarding
tenure.

Remarks by the President:

President Witt had no remarks, but indicated his
willingness to answer any questions.

Remarks by the Provost:

Provost Wright reported that of 51 faculty notified of
post-tenure review, a total of 38 were reviewed.Of the 13 who were not reviewed,4 retired, 5 were deferred due to leave, 3 resigned, and one was
considered for and granted promotion.Of the 38 to be reviewed,35
reviews are complete, and the remaining 3 are scheduled for completion this
week.

Sen. Eakin asked for an explanation of proper procedures
for classroom teachers during tornadoes, such as last week’s storms.Standard instructions say go to the first
floor, but in Ransom Hall where he teaches, the first floor has many
windows.President Witt will ask the
police to look into posting a recommended location for storm shelter in each
building.

Committee Reports:

The
Council of Faculty Senates: No report.

Equity:
No report.

Academic
Freedom and Tenure:No report.

Operating
Procedures:Had no
report, as Sen. Silva was in class. The Chairman reported that the issue of the
timing of the election of representatives will be carried over until fall.The Promotion and Tenure process review will
also be carried over until fall.

Research
& Development:Sen. Eakin provided a handout explaining proposed improvements to the
apportionment policy from the Handbook of Operating Procedurs (HOP.)The two concerns with the existing statement
regarding apportionment were that some administrative units grant degrees, and
that the explanation of apportionment numbers was unclear.A lengthy discussion ensued to determine the
exact intent of each version of the suggested text.Sen. Courtney moved that version “B” be adopted, as follows:

“(Assumes
departments will never have more than 52 voting members) Each academic
department and administrative unit offering undergraduate or graduate academic
degrees shall elect senate members.For
22 or less full-time equivalent voting faculty members they will elect one
senate member, for 23 to 37 they will elect two, and for 38 to 52 they will
elect three.The President and Provost
shall be ex officio members without vote.When the size of the body reaches 60 members, the Senate shall be
reapportioned to bring the number to less than 60.”

Sen. Reinhartz seconded Sen. Courtney’s motion.Another lengthy discussion ensued regarding
changing the numbers to more rounded numbers, such as 20 and 40.Sen. Eakin expressed concern regarding
changing the actual numbers, as the version being voted upon seems to most
accurately reflect the intentions of the existing document.

The motion to adopt this change to the bylaws was approved
by a majority vote, with one vote against. The actual vote to change the bylaws must be taken at the next
meeting.Sen. Estes requested
statistics on the impact of such a change.The Chair noted that this was the first reapportionment in six years and
that only two senators were being lost through reapportionment.It was generally agreed that this should be
an annual process.There are currently
42 senators.

Budget Liaison had no report on the
issues of salary survey or compression.Sen. Formanowicz noted that in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education
comparison of salaries, UTA was omitted for the first time.

Academic
Liaison and Student
Services Liaison:Sen. Porter
reported that revisions to the Faculty Guide are complete.The Guide has been reformatted into a
pamphlet overview listing URLs.Complete information has been updated on the web page, and hard copies
are on file in each departmental office.Ongoing changes will be added to the web site, as requested.

The Chair commended this group for their
outstanding work on a significant task.

Ethics
had no report.In
Sen. Barrett’s absence, the Chair reported that the summer salary issue was to
be carried over until fall, and assigned a new charge to the committee to
investigate whether department chairs can serve as senators.

Special
Projects:Sen.
Fincher reported that seven nominations have been received for Professor
Emeritus, and the committee will meet today to review them.The process is going well.

Old Business:

The Chair reported that the Periodic Reviews of
Academic Administrators are nearing completion.The Provost Review Committee is scheduled to forward their review
to the President in two weeks.The
review of Vice President Williams is complete, and has been forwarded to
President Witt.Sen. Courtney inquired
about the availability of these reports after publication.The Chair advised that AAUP considers these
documents private personnel information and will discuss the issue with
President Witt.He is checking on the
requirements of the Public Information Act.

In response to the Senate’s request for
additional information on the promotion and tenure process, the Chair has
received a complete report from the Provost, and is in the process of
tabulating the information.It will be
added to minutes on the website when available.

New Business:

The Chairman has had a request from Dean Cohen
for a member of the Senate to be appointed to the University Program Review
Committee, as Sen. Kellner’s three year term has expired.Since Senate terms are only two years, the
Chair has some concerns and will discuss this with Dean Cohen.Sen. Estes volunteered to represent the
Senate.

A senator is also needed to serve on the Holiday
Committee, which reviews staff days off.Senator Elmasri volunteered to represent the Senate.

Sen. Rosado requested that the senators receive
new name plates before next year’s meetings, and the Chair agreed to attempt to
replace them during the summer.

Regarding access to the library and e-mail
access for retirees, Senator Courtney reported e-mail forwarding accounts are
available, but no electronic library access is available.Tom Wilding explained that this is due to
requirements of the contractual agreements with various on-line resources,
which would be violated through the provision of services to retirees.The Chair suggested that such information be
added to the on-line Faculty Guide.

Elections were conducted by Sen. Sol, chair of
the Nominating Committee, and Sen. Rasheed.

Sen. Maizlish moved that Sen. Sol and Sen.
Porter be elected by acclamation to the Texas Council of Faculty Senates.The motion was seconded by Sen. Amster, and
approved unanimously.Incoming officers
will be Sen. Reinhartz, Chair Elect, Sen. Formanowicz, Secretary, Sen.
Maizlish, Parliamentarian, and Sen. Sol and Porter, TCOFS representatives.

It was agreed that although the Senate enjoys an
excellent working relationship with the President and Provost, they should be
dismissed after their presentations and question and answer period to allow for
a more open exchange of ideas.This
will be tried at next year’s meetings on a trial basis, and a final decision
will be made at the conclusion of next year.

Annual
reports from University Committees are available through the following links: